The present invention relates generally to cable supports and more particularly, to cable support brackets that maintain the natural gradual bend radius of cables that extend thereacross. The present invention is particularly useful for category 5 cable and high performance communications cable, including fiber optic cable that may be suspended or mounted in a hanging manner on any surface in the utilitarian part of a building such as a wall, ceiling, joist, the area above a drop ceiling or similar such surface or area.
As the computer and communications industries have grown, the organization and management of the cabling has become a serious problem. Cables have literally been dumped on the floor or dropped through walls, kinked around corners, or simply dropped on or dragged over the top of suspended ceilings. Cables such as UTP cables and fiber optic cables simply cannot be treated in such a cavalier fashion and have the equipment they serve meet expectations.
Attenuation, cross-talk, data distortion, and return loss all affect signal strength which can degrade any system transmission capability. Attenuation is the loss of power or signal strength along the transmission medium. Cross-talk is an unwanted transmission from another nearby cable, or even a pair in the same cable. Return loss is a measure of degree of impedance between the cable and a connector. Background noise is also an irritating problem resulting from a low signal-to-noise ratio. Inadequate cable installation is a key reason for such factors, especially when data and voice transmission speeds are continually being increased.
Such cables should not be kinked, snaked, bent sharply, tugged, sag excessively, or come into engagement with sharp edges, or be too close to power cables. The wiring can be placed under the floor with elevated flooring which is extremely expensive and often not practical. A more common place for such wiring is above the ceiling between the structural floor or roof above, and a dropped or acoustical ceiling. above, and a dropped or acoustical ceiling.
New buildings may be designed with such cables in mind and include cable trays. Cable trays are simply suspended or cantilevered trays in which such cables can be laid flat to extend horizontally, and hung or suspended from beams, joists, or decking for example, oftentimes by trapeze hangers. Such trays can be retrofitted into existing buildings, but not easily or economically, particularly if there is not a significant amount or extent of open or unobstructed horizontal space above the ceilings. For instance, the area above drop ceilings is typically cluttered with structural members such as beams or open joists, utilities such as plumbing or sprinkler systems, HVAC ducts, conventional power wiring, often encased in conduits, and suspension hangers for the ceiling and any lighting or other fixtures in the ceiling. Moreover, most beams, joists and other structures extend in a rectilinear fashion above a ceiling, while communications or data cabling usually radiates from a panel or closet in a star topology.
Conventional power wiring clips, snaps, wire hooks or bridle rings are not suitable for such cables because they may present sharp edges or produce sharp turns or kinks in the cabling, or they may crush or pinch a bundle. Attempts to overcome the shortcomings of conventional cable support systems have been met with limited success. Such an attempt is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,994 issued to Laughlin, which discloses a cable support that includes a saddle with a flat center cylindrical surface section having edge flanges which extend away from the center at each edge at about 45xc2x0 with no sharp edges to minimize kinking, bending or crimping of the cables.
Another attempt is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,961,081 issued to Rinderer, which includes a support clip that is J-shaped hook having a central cable supporting portion and a retaining member. These conventional cable supports do not effectively support the natural gradual bend radius of the cables that extend across the cable support.
Accordingly, there is a need for a cable support that accommodates and supports the natural bend radius of the cables that lay thereacross. Such cable support is for the installation in utilitarian areas of a building, which can be fastened to or supported directly or indirectly from anything encountered.
The present invention provides a cable support bracket that advantageously accommodates, supports and maintains the natural gradual bend radius of suspended cables that extend across the support bracket.
In one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a cable support having a hook-like shaped body including an elongate stem portion, an elongate laterally extending portion extending generally perpendicularly from one end of the stem portion; and an elongate up-turned end portion extending perpendicularly from one end of the laterally extending portion, generally parallel to the stem portion. The stem portion, the laterally extending portion, and the end portion define a cable support saddle for accommodating cables thereacross with the laterally extending portion including a convex cable support surface for maintaining a gradual bend radius for the cables extending thereacross. Support bracket of the present invention may be attached to a structure with fasteners, hangers, clips and combinations thereof.
The laterally extending portion of the support bracket is contiguous with both the stem portion and the end portion, with a short-radius right-angle transition between the main stem portion and the laterally extending portion as well as between the laterally extending portion and the end portion. The laterally extending portion extends between the stem and the end portion along a plane perpendicular to both the main stem portion and the end portion for a distance approximately equal to the length of the end portion, as opposed to a semi-circular configuration as would be present in a typical J-hook configuration. As such, the inventive support bracket is a hook-like shaped fastener, in a form of a modified xe2x80x9cJxe2x80x9d type structure formed by the stem, the laterally extending portion and the end portion defining the interior saddle area of the modified xe2x80x9cJxe2x80x9d.
The interior saddle area defines the cable support saddle surface projecting in a generally planar manner along the laterally extending portion and along a general plane which is perpendicular to the main stem portion for supporting a cable. This cable support saddle surface has a convex curved surface extending along the axis of the hook in a direction of the cable. Such convex curved saddle surface includes a curved center portion which gradually slopes in a convex shape toward the side portions of the support bracket. This convex shape accommodates and maintains the natural gradual bend radius exhibited by the cables that extend across the cable support bracket.
The side portions of the support bracket sharply transition in a very short radius at an angle perpendicular to the general plane or axis of the cable supporting surface of the support bracket, forming opposing parallel flanges for strengthening the structure of the support bracket. Such opposing flanges are perpendicular to the general plane of the interior surface which defines the cable supporting surface and are parallel with respect to each other. The opposing flanges reinforce the strength of the support bracket and do not assist in supporting the cables being supported by the bracket. The flanges are situated so that they will not contact or affect the position of the supported cables.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the stem of the cable support bracket of the present invention includes a pair of hangers that are integrally formed from the support bracket by a cut-out portion of the planar surface of the stem portion. Such hangers permit attachment of the support bracket to a desired structure, such as a wall. Additionally, a pair of clips may be integrally formed from the support bracket by a cut-out portion of the planar surface of the stem. In this embodiment, the cable support bracket may also include fastener apertures located on the stem portion.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the stem includes non-threaded apertures therein that can accommodate conventional fasteners for securement of the bracket to a desired structure. Additionally, this embodiment may also include a pair of brackets and/or clips useful to secure the cable support bracket to a structure.
A cable supported by the interior surface of the support bracket can be maintained in place, for example, by wrapping a tie, such as a cable tie, about the cable and the support bracket in a cross-wise manner. More particularly, a cable tie can be wrapped about a cable supported within the support bracket such that the cable tie extends from the flange at one edge of the support bracket near the transition between the main stem portion and the laterally extending portion, wrapping around the cable, and extending to the opposing flange at the other edge of the support bracket near the transition between the end portion and the laterally extending portion. In this manner, the cable tie contacts the cable and maintains the cable in a tight manner within the interior surface of the support bracket against the cable supporting surface of the laterally extending portion.
With the support bracket attached to a wall or similar surface, a cable can be supported within the saddle of the support bracket in a hanging fashion. The support bracket is mountable on a wall, ceiling, joist, or similar such surface for supporting one or more cables, such as a bundle of fiber optic cables or the like, in a hanging manner. The support bracket can be quickly fastened to a wide variety of structures, walls or studs, beam or angle flanges, C-purlins or Z-purlins, with screw-on or hammer-on fasteners, or even drop wires, rods or vertical flanges with other types of fasteners. A number cable support brackets of the present invention can be assembled to each side of hanging tree bracket and the bracket in-turn secured to a beam flange or joist, for example with another fastener. The bracket can also be used inverted with yet another fastener to. elevate the support above the structure such as a Tee bar of a suspended ceiling grid. With the ability to secure the bracket support to anything, cables can be supported to avoid placing pressure or stress on the cable, or pinching or kinking the cable. The spacing may be such that excessive sag between supports is avoided.